Surgical Site Infection Prevention and Education on Asepsis

Decreasing surgical site infection rates (SSIs) to zero is our goal. One method we use to move our staff and students toward this goal is state-of-the-art education for all of the people who practice in our surgical areas.

Medical Center at Augusta University Medial Center serves as the clinical setting for the Medical Center at Augusta University’s medical school and residency programs.We have an opportunity to teach the medical, nursing, and allied health students about infection prevention and the sterile technique and procedures required in our operating rooms prior to their clinical rotations.

We train our students in the “Asepsis Program”. This program has been in place since July 2008. It is composed of training and education in the required skills followed by a skills competency check off in a simulated operating room. To date, over 2,500 students and physicians in-training have successfully completed the program. We have also seen the number of surgical site infections decrease.